Events after World War II. Harvesting in U.S. farms. Closeup view as a tractor plows fields. Men on horseback driving sheep. Woman serves a Thanksgiving turkey dinner to her family gathered at a nice dining room table in the United States. Her children look at the food with smiles. Contrasting scenes show Europeans starving amid post-war ruins. Women and children looking for food. A child in a soup line. Women wait in a line to receive grain that is weighed on a scale. Globe spins. Joseph Stalin and other Soviet officials watch a military parade in Red Square in Russia. Retrospective scenes of the meeting of Russian and U.S. troops at the Elbe River late in World War 2. Communist rally in Paris. A protester holds up a hammer and sickle symbol. A demonstration of protestors in Athens, Greece, and another Communist demonstration in Rome, Italy. Map depicts communist control growing over Central and Eastern Europe early in Cold War. High aerial view of Washington DC with a lower altitude airplane flying over the U.S. Capitol. Exterior view of State Department (Old Executive Office Building) in Washington DC. View of Secretary of State James F Byrnes working at his desk. Byrnes speaks of U.S. role in world affairs while at a conference in Stuttgart, Germany. Scenes from a meeting of the Big Four foreign ministers in 1947. Scenes changes to North Portico of White House. Swearing in ceremony of George C. Marshall as Secretary of State. President Harry S Truman shakes hands with Secretary George Marshall. Night view of London landmark buildings. View of door at No. 10 Downing Street in London. View of brutal winter conditions in Europe in February 1947. Citizens try to dig out a train stuck in snow. Women in line in Britain for a rationed good, still saddled with its own postwar reconstruction. Narrator relates that Britain was unable to continue to provide massive military and economic aid to the Greek regime and appealed to the U.S. to handle the situation. Secretary of State Marshall and President Truman seen talking together in front of a fireplace mantle. Marshall boards aircraft for a visit to Moscow. Truman in a White House meeting, seated at oval table with his advisors and cabinet. Truman addressing joint session of congress on March 12, 1947. He asks for funds for Greece and Turkey. Globe highlights USSR. Door sign reads 'Policy Planning Staff - George F Kennan - Director'. Director Kennan seen at his desk. He advocates a long term, patient but firm and vigilant containment of Russian expansive tendencies. Reconstruction in Europe. Ground level and aerial views of bomb destroyed European cities, and workers cleaning up rubble. Brief scene from the meeting of 16 nations in Paris on July 3, 1947. Scenes from United Nations meeting held in Lake Success New York in September 1947. George Marshall at podium addressing delegates of UN. Russian delegate Andrey Vyshinsky commenting on Marshall Plan. Signing of Marshall Plan agreement by international delegates meeting in Paris in September 1947.

Industrial scenes in America with a factory with smoke from chimneys, a steel factory in operation, views of the tops of railroad train coal cars filled with coal. Secretary of State George Marshall speaks about providing European countries with material and money (Marshall Plan). He is seen speaking to legislators in Washington DC on November 10, 1947, asking for funds for Austria, Italy, and France "to provide the supplies necessary to permit the people of these countries to continue to eat, to work, and to survive the winter." Truman signs an interim aid bill, S 1774 on December 17, 1947. View of Eiffel Tower in Paris and communists marching and demonstrating in France. Communist demonstrations across Europe. Police monitor communist protestors in Italy, and then disperse a crowd of communists. Winston Churchill arrives for peace conference meeting of the Big Four foreign ministers in London in December 1947. Vyascheslav Molotov attends the conference. George Marshall talks with Molotov. View of the Friendship Train in the United States approaching on a railway tracks during its tour. Also a view of the 1947 special exhibit Freedom Train traveling. Citizens board the Freedom Train at one of its stops, to view artifacts and exhibits about American democracy, including a 1823 facsimile of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Exterior view of U.S. Supreme Court building. Statues at the Supreme Court building. The base is inscribed 'The Heritage of the Past is the Seed that Brings Forth the Harvest of the Future'. A group of American boys and girls are seen reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. A larger group of children reciting the pledge and viewing an American flag fluttering in the wind. View of Mount Rushmore National Memorial, and then another view from the top of the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court building looking outward.

Rail cars on the November, 1947 "Friendship Train," at a sea port in the U.S.A. Behind it is seen the funnel of the SS Exiria, of the American Export Lines. The camera moves around to show the Exiria, displaying a large American flag and words,"Friendship Food Ship," on her hull. A steam locomotive on train in France, delivering relief supplies, displays crossed American and French flags on it. Trucks on road in France, displaying French and American flags and pictures of the Freedom Train on their sides, with words:"Ravitaillement, offert spontanment au peuple de France à partir de peuple Americain." (Refueling, spontaneously offered to the people of France from American people.) The SS Exiria docked in an Italian port. A catholic priest and several nuns with a group of schoolboys, standing on the pier, wave American flags. Another group of schoolgirls, enthusiastically wave American flags. A large crowd waves several large Italian flags. President Harry S. Truman, at his desk on the White House, Washington, DC, signs the Economic Recovery Act of 1948 (AKA Marshall Plan). Secretary of State Marshall speaking in support of the legislation before Congress. Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, of Michigan, speaking in support of the bill.

Bomb damage in Berlin, Germany in the area of the so-called Fuhrer Bunker, shortly after the end of World War II in Europe. Bomb damaged buildings, air raid shelters, and fortifications of the Führer Headquarters (Führerhauptquartiere). View of the Reich Chancellery Garden area (Garten Reichskanzlei) and exterior of the Adolf Hitler Fuhrerbunker at the back of the Reich Chancellery. Heaps of debris in front of the bomb damaged buildings. Tail of an exploded mortar shell on the ground. View of a wrecked truck. Pock marks by shells seen on buildings used as fortifications and shelters. More Mortar tails partially embedded in the ground. (Note: The buildings in this area were demolished in 1947 by the Soviets.)

Film titled ‘D-Day Convoy’ based on invasion of Normandy (D-Day) by Allied Forces during World War II. Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt, and Prime Minister of UK Winston Churchill seated at Tehran Conference in December 1943. Other officials stand behind the big three. U.S. General George Marshall, Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe Dwight Eisenhower and other officials seated at a conference table. Map of France details cross channel assault of France by Allied Forces. Map shows coastal locations to be attacked by Allies. Weapons and equipment from America pouring into England. U.S. soldiers arrive in England and train, for the invasion, on southern coast of England. U.S. B-26 bombers hitting German targets and smoke billowing up from exploding bombs. B-17 bomber in flight and bombs falling on German industrial targets. Gunners on B-17s defend against German fighter aircraft. American bomber explodes in flight after attack by German fighter airplane. German Messerschmitt fighter is destroyed. From edited film produced in 1947.

U.S. Air Force General Hap Arnold meeting with other allied military chiefs at the Potsdam conference, following the end of World War II, in Europe. General Arnold gives a speech during the 38th Anniversary of air power in the United States. Military band plays during the ceremony. General Henry steps from airplane and shakes hands with some of his Air Force Commanders in the Pacific theater. B-29 Super fortresses bombing Japan.Bombardier seen inside B-29 Super fortress. View of General of the Army, Henry (Hap) Arnold. Aircraft of the Air Force demonstration team, The Thunderbirds, in flight. September 18, 1947, formation of the United States Air Force as a separate service. January, 1950, the funeral of General Arnold at Arlington Cemetery, Virginia. Arnold Engineering Development Center building in Tullahoma, Tennessee. President Harry Truman dedicates the Center. B-47 and B-52 bombers taking off. Various Air Force aircraft seen taking off. Views of the United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, Colorado.